PART 2: MARIELLE – Chapter 57

CONTAINS CONTENT:

Action violence, brief language, a forced sexual moment.

{{Unedited}}

Austin managed to spot a black rider aiming at him from a structure across the street above Liam. He sat up, aimed, fired twice, and took him down. Not a second later, another one came running from the building to his left and was practically on top of him when he shot into this man. His blood sprayed all over Austin’s face and body before he smacked into the ground, and Austin wiped a good deal of it away with his gloved hand.

Tearing from the ground, he jerked Marielle away in time to dodge a dart of some kind…

She slammed into his chest, and gave him a look of extreme annoyance. He gestured with his head towards the needle lodged in the ground. Her eyes widened; they were trying to take her again.

“We still need help over here!” He shouted into the ear piece.

“We’re coming,” Sabine replied. “Got a little hung up dealing with you.”

“Ha…ha. Is he dead?” Another aim and pop.

“No, the bastard got away, again. Watch for him,” Vincent said, pausing at a tall building that was mostly standing. Vincent gestured the others to keep going, then he gestured with his head to Chamber and darted into it for the stairwell.

From the upper levels, they’d be able to use Tour De Force to take out any of Kingdom’s black rider thugs trying to creep up on them.

Pops and thunks continued to ring out all over the area.

Austin sighed, and kept his eyes up, there were too many places in this area where sharpshooters and assailants could hide in. They needed to get out of the open space, or just simply leave. But Austin knew that they were surrounded; this was a standoff for the time being.

“Chamber and I are covering the area with our weapons,” Vincent said.

Austin acknowledged this.

That was when something yellow waddled behind all of them, grabbing the spike defuser, flipping over it, and carrying it away, into the building that rested behind the courtyard.

“Uh, Austin… get after that,” Vincent growled. “We only have the two, so if we guess wrong at the next plant, we are all dead. They take too long to construct.”

“Shit,” Austin hissed, running after Wingman, and cursing himself for being careless. That little creep could be hiding anywhere, now; and Gekko along with him. A bullet slammed into the wall near Austin’s head as he dodged into the building after the little yellow creature.

Marielle followed a short distance behind to cover any area that he couldn’t, and throwing a glance over her shoulder to make sure that Sasha and Tayane were okay. They were holding their own well, and now they were being reinforced by John and Sabine. Marielle pressed her finger to her ear, “Kirra, are you okay? I have visual of everyone but you.”

“Yup, I’m ratting it out in a corner.” Marielle heard a loud pop. “And, I just took one trying to sneak in out. Jerk didn’t check the corner.”

From Vincent and Chamber’s point of view, both Marielle and Austin disappeared into the partially broken structure that was sitting behind the courtyard. Vincent zoomed in three times with Tour De Force, and fired at a man who was more than half a mile away as he ran for the fray. He went down.

Since no one reacted below, he figured that he couldn’t be heard from this distance. That was good because it meant that it’d take a while to be found by anyone.

He did this again, another one down.

Chamber guarded the stairs behind them, and occasionally glanced down the sights of Tour De Force as well, picking off a careless grunt.

Chamber and Vincent gave one another a nod of approval, and continued.

Austin peeked around the bottom of the stairs, practicing perfect trigger control, then slowly worked his way up, listening carefully as he went. Marielle stayed close behind, slowly climbing them backwards, watching their tails.

This building was too large for them to search on their own, it’d take them all day going at the speeds they were. He paused a moment, and sighed, heavily. Marielle pulled back against the wall, quiet as the dead, and met eyes with him.

-What’s the play?

He shrugged his left shoulder. -Kiss now? Or kiss later?

She shook her head at him, adoringly. She wasn’t going to tell him that his face was still streaked with blood… and while there was something raw and carnal about that, it wasn’t exactly putting her in the mood for a kiss. -Later… What’s the play?

He smirked. -Just keep going for now… let me think… He continued up the stairs and she followed, both moving at a glacial pace. They came to the first floor, but there was a closed door. He tried it; locked. -It hurt so bad to think that you might die back there. Austin said.

-What about you? You were going to die as well. They came across a round gap in the steps. There was enough stair still near the wall, that they were able to navigate it. He went first, making sure that the floor was steady, and reaching over to help her around the hole, and up to him where they continued on.

-All that I cared about in that moment was you.

He lifted his hand as if to tell her to stop walking and she did, pausing mid step on the stairs, just behind him.

He pointed with two fingers to the left.

-I think that I heard Gekko, somewhere.  

He took another three steps, finishing the climb to the next floor and paused again, looking left, with his pistol drawn up, and ready. The floors were old carpet, so they muffled the sound of walking; this appeared to be an old apartment building. When he’d reached the top of the stairs, there was a door across from him with the golden number twenty-two on it. 

He paused again. –Wait, wait- okay… we’re both profilers, here, right?

-Correct.

He looked up at the ceiling, then down at the floor, eyeing and analyzing everything as he turned left, and continued down past door twenty-one, and twenty, gun high. There was an emergency exit at the end, and a window with a fire escape. –So, what’s really going on, here? Who are we dealing with?

-Mateo… he’s tricky sometimes.

-Right. So, what’s this really about? It’s not about the spike defuser, is it?  

 Marielle paused. “No…it’s not.”

“So, what’s this about?” he asked aloud, flicking his gaze over his shoulder at her and then back to the hall before him.

“Separating us,” she realized.

“From the group?” He asked, keeping his pistol high as he walked.

–Or… she paused, frightened.

–Each other! He realized, as the floor under Marielle opened underneath her. She fell through it, and through the hole in the second flight stairs, crashing all the way to the first floor, where she landed in someone’s arms.

“Marielle!” Austin cried, in a terrified tone, looking down the hole. Too late… something smacked him in the side of the head. He only had enough time to realize that she was okay in the sense that someone had caught her.

Austin whirled, ignoring the throbbing in his temple, which was now dripping blood, and came face to face with Gekko. “Vincent, this is a trap, someone has Marielle on the bottom floor!” He yelled into the ear piece. Both heard two deafening pops; Vincent through Austin’s earpiece.

“Masin!” Vincent cried into her ear.

To his surprise, Marielle came back with, “Wasn’t that hard… I just slammed my fists into his crotch, and he dropped me. I put two bullets through his helmet. I’m running back up the stairs now.”

“W-why can’t we just hug it out?”

Austin grinned as he lifted his fists, “Want to try that again?” He dared.

Gekko’s expression melted into wide eyes which looked like he’d cry tears of pure terror at any moment. It was as if he suddenly realized who he was about to fight. “Uh… nah, man… I just… He whirled, flinging himself through the window and to the fire escape; where he tossed himself over the railing, and slid down the ladder. Austin lost sight of him.

“What do you guys think, let Gekko run, or put a bullet in his head?”

“Let him run,” Vincent said with a shrug; he was just a kid. “Find Wingman instead.” Austin nodded, and continued his search. He heard squelching down the hall, to the right of where they had came in, and rushed after the sound, knowing that Wingman would try and join back up with Gekko.

Two men snuck behind Tayane and Sasha, who were busy picking off others, and ran for the bottom of the building as if they would go in after Marielle.

Vincent and Chamber rapidly exchanged looks, understanding, and both raised Tour De Force, and fired. Both men were down before they even had a chance to realize they’d been hit.

Marielle was about to hit the second flight of stairs when she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening in terror. Standing on the stairs, looking down at her stood Cory, hands behind his back. “Hello, Cailín,” he whispered, smiling down at her. He advanced a step, and she took a step back down, frozen. For a moment, she considered fighting him. His danger had only been amplified by stories; maybe she could actually take him. “Don’t be too afraid,” he whispered, “I’m not really here,” he looked down her body, and shape hungrily. “But, I kind of wish I was, so…” He dragged his gaze back to her face.

“What do you want, you’ve lost.”

“Oh, I know,” he replied. Then the ghost of a smile crossed his thin mouth. “Maybe I meant to lose,” he gave her a queer smirk. He took another step towards her and she went down another step trying to keep space between them. “I just think you should know how much I need you, Marielle. Uh, Austin,” he shook his head, as if clearing a thought, “Tundra, to you… he wants you, too. I can’t let him down, he’s my best friend in the world. We’ve failed before, but we’ve got it this time.” He took another step, his hands still crossed behind his back.

“What are you talking about?” She growled.

He tipped his chin down at her. “Everything is already planned, darling. There’s nothing under God’s red sun that you can do about it, A stór.”

“I don’t care what you say to me. You can’t know everything, and your purpose here is obviously to distract me.”

“Oh, away with the fairies, so…” He took another step; she backed down one more.

“What do you need me for?”

“To bridge the gap. We can’t stay here… ask Vincent about it, I’m sure that he’ll tell you. Intel tells me that you’re the key, just got to figure out how to turn it.” he explained lifting the back of his hand like he’d hit her, she didn’t flinch. He used the back of his fingertips to swipe a bit of her hair back and gazed at her that confirmed to her, somehow, he knew her intimately. It made her skin feel like it was going to peel off. “Please, feel free to keep hanging out with Austin,” he added quietly with a grin.

He looked off in a direction as if taking note of something that she couldn’t hear or see. She followed his gaze briefly, but it was to the wall. “I wonder what Vincent’s doing…” He let that hang in the air as his image vaporized.

 

***

 

Austin followed Wingman into one of the apartments that’s door was torn off the hinges, but had lost sight of him… again. “Dammit,” he whispered, glancing around the broken down, mold splotched kitchen.  

The air smelled like mildew, dust, and rot and for a moment Austin wondered if he was about to inhale the next deadly spore that would turn them all into the undead. The thought sent an icy sting down his spine and he shook the thought away, continuing to the bedroom.

“Marielle, just get back to Vincent… Something’s not right,” he whispered into the earpiece.

“You’re telling me. I just ran into a projection of our friend.”

“Cory?”

“Yeah.”

“What’d he say?” Austin kicked at an overturned coffee table, revealing a dead…cat? It was mummified and hard to distinguish. He exhaled sadly, and moved on.

“Something vague and uninteresting.”

Austin paused at the bedroom door. This had been a young man’s room. There were the remnants of what looked like a basketball hoop on the wall, and a quick glance up above the bed showed naked girls peeling off the ceiling.

He sighed, and looked down, wanting to gawk, but keeping several promises and objectives in his mind all at once. Pretty naked girls, and sexual excitement were not the goal right now.

“Are you safe?” he asked.

“I’m going to Sasha,” she replied.

“Copy that,” Sasha added.

“Protect her, Sasha.”

“I will. I’m not just an archer, you know?”

Austin went toward the back of the room, where a decades old detonation blew the side of this room and probably the one above and below it off. He was met with a sloped area, and when he looked down, he could see Wingman waddling down it with the spike defuser in his little hands.

“Tayane, Wingman is on the East side of the apartment building, I’m in pursuit, but can you come around the side, and place yourself between the buildings? We can’t let him get to Gekko.”

“I’m on that,” she replied. Then he heard in the distance, “here comes the party!” followed by an explosion.

Austin carefully climbed out the window and making sure that the slope was stable, he slowly made his way down. Wingman couldn’t move very fast considering his little stubby legs, so Austin was gaining on him, even though he was progressing down carefully.

 

***

 

Vincent looked down the sights of Tour De Force, watching Tayane move into position to capture Wingman, but as he did so… his eyes fell on someone else; above her and to the right as he made his way slowly down the unstable slope behind Wingman.

He was alone…

Vincent pulled back, thinking for a moment. No one could hear them up here…or, the rifle anyway. He moved the gun and looked again, Marielle was safe, she’d rejoined Sasha, Sabine, and John, and all four were firing, and watching the diminishing crowd of grunts left over that were still trying to kill them.

Sasha loaded an arrow and cried, “No where to run!” Vincent watched as a massive burst of fiery red lasered from the fired arrow, vaporizing several of the men left as they tried to flank the left side.

Drumming his bottom lip, an itch began to stir in Vincent’s mind. He zoomed in once, then again, and one more time, focusing on Austin’s heart under all of that black.

It’d be so easy. Quick… They’d never know in this chaos.

He tucked his lips in, feeling sweat start to bead, and adrenaline begin to pump through his veins. He took a deep breath inward. How could this go wrong? Could it?

Vincent just barely moved the tip of the rifle up a little… If he shot Austin in the head, then there was a good chance that Wei Ling would not be able to revive him. It’d have to be a perfect shot. He could do it; he knew he could, and he could feel his pulse racing at the thought.

He removed his glasses for a moment, and held the end against his mouth, thinking.

He’d never have a better shot. His eyes went blurry…

Well… he’d had one, once.

 

***

 

Hazal’s hand was on Vincent’s right shoulder, and after a moment he stepped even closer, as if going in for a hug, then pausing, perhaps considering the awkwardness of hugging another man from behind, regardless of grief. All that he said in a shaky whisper was, “I’m so sorry.” And he found tears on his own cheeks again. He quickly dashed them away, trying to be strong for his dear friend.

Vincent nodded, and dragged a shaky hand across his face as he turned slowly back to the open casket like it was a wild, seething, rabid cheetah ready to pounce.

The service had been done for a long time, now. The smell of wilted flowers permeated the quiet, still room.

When they’d first come in, Vincent had raised his voice for the first time in days, pointing to the flowers, “Get those red roses out of here!” And several members of Valorant, and other friends and family instantly began to work at it.

Marielle’s frail body was resting, as it would be resting, forever.

Vincent stood at the side of the coffin, and looked down into it, taking her in one last time. She was white as paper; skin stretched over bone, her cheekbones were sunken and hollow. Her wedding ring rested on her little finger. The makeup artist had done a good job of painting some color back into her cheeks, but the wig was obvious as it struggled to portray her long black hair. Her eyes were closed; forever dreaming.

A memory flashed in his mind of a morning not more than a year ago when she was having a particularly difficult time waking up. He’d kissed her and told her it was time to get ready to go, he couldn’t even remember where they had been headed off to that day, and she hummed, smiled, stirred, but didn’t get up. Apparently, she’d fallen back asleep and was dreaming again, because when he’d come back from the shower, she was still asleep. She was still laying on her back, her arm on the pillow under her head, her gorgeous black hair cascading down it in waves. The sun was streaming in through the window and she looked like something otherworldly and angelic, bathed in the soft orange glow, as her white, frilly nightgown revealed a perfect shoulder. He almost saw wings. He had bent over her face and smiled, kissing her on the mouth and saying sweetly, “Wake up, love. It’s time to go…”

Presently, he stood next to her lifeless, skeletal body… unrecognizable from that day and yet somehow still beautiful in forever sleep. He leaned down and kissed her lovely mouth. “Wake up, love…” he urged, knowing that it wouldn’t happen. “I want to take you home,” he breathed. “Je peux te ramener à la maison maintenant.” He knew that she wouldn’t move, but somehow, he couldn’t stop himself. He sobbed against her right ear, quietly, controlled. Then he kissed her again, “It’s okay, love,” he forced a small, tearful smile, “You sleep for a while longer.” He broke then, and sobbed a little more into her chest.

He was broken out of his reverie by the sound of Hazal’s voice, stern and unyielding. “No.” he was saying. Vincent lifted his head and turned towards the commotion.

Dammit…

He was standing at the back door, pale as a ghost, eyes bloodshot and swollen, cheeks dripping. In his trembling left hand, a bouquet of yellow daffodils tied with packaging string. “You’re not welcome here…” Hazal seethed, ready for a fight.

“P-please?” Austin begged.

Vincent took several intimidating steps towards him. “Just leave, Austin. You’re in violation of the restraining order.”

Austin’s eyes welled again, “S-she’s dead, V-vincent,” he said. The restraining order didn’t mean anything anymore. “And I didn’t kill her.”

Hazal looked to Vincent, his red eye blazing, signaling that he was waiting for Vincent to give him instruction to move on this deadbeat.

“Vincent, p-please…?” Austin pleaded, clenching his blue eyes closed as tears fell in waves, “I loved her, too.”

“You never loved her,” Vincent hissed through clenched teeth, and tears, “You never loved anyone but yourself! You ruined her!” Austin tried to run at him, and Hazal kept him back, pulling both of his arms behind him. Hazal tried to breathe on Austin’s temple to put him in a state of fear, but Austin was a step ahead, and he turned and blew ice straight into his eyes, causing Hazal to jerk back, and claw at his own face.

Sasha, and Cory were already running into the room, trying to catch Austin as he whirled away from Hazal, and Vincent was trying to stop him as well, but Austin had managed to evade him with a dodge, and he ran to Marielle.

Placing the one wilted, yellow flower he had left in his hand on her chest, he leaned in to look at her. “I love you,” he sobbed, and at that point all four men were on him, jerking him away from the casket. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he was saying through heaves and tears.

Hazal fell on him, pinning him to the ground, straddling him, and looking down into his eyes. “You’re going to be sorry that you did that, you snake,” he hissed.

“You think I care anymore, Hazal?” Austin growled back, twisting under him, and pushing him off, then standing away. “I’ve lost everything, now!” He glared at Vincent, “you were my brother!” He barked. “You stole my wife! You turned everyone against me.”

Cory and Sasha had joined in the fight, pulling Austin back, and holding him steady as Vincent approached, Tour De Force already in his hands. He lifted the gleaming, golden rifle; its pieces chiming and whirring, and aimed it at Austin’s handsome, tear-streaked face.

Austin fought for a second, then stilled himself, lifting his hands in complete surrender, “Go ahead, Vincent,” he heaved. “You’ll never get a better shot.” Vincent narrowed his eyes at him, hatefully. He ground his teeth together in agony, and looked down the sights. “Go ahead,” Austin taunted, “Reunite us, again…” Vincent tilted his head back at Austin… this was what he wanted. “Come on, use that thing to give me your blessing.”

In an instant, Vincent held it straight out to the side of his body, and sucked it back up into his arm.

Austin bounced, raging at him, and trying to jerk away. “No,” he ground out between his teeth.

“Get him out of here,” Vincent growled, jerking his head towards the door. Cory nodded signaling to Sasha to help get him there. 

Cory and Hazal had tossed Austin out into the alley in the back, and Hazal lifted his hand and threw some of his power at him, “Sweet dreams, asshole,” he growled, slamming the door. “Something to follow you home.” Austin had screamed and started to run, and what Vincent heard later was that he had spent a significant amount of time in an asylum after that encounter; at least four weeks.

 

***

 

Presently, Vincent was staring Austin down again through the sites of Tour De Force, and while he should have killed him before back in his dimension… this… this felt wrong. It always felt wrong. Every time he had the chance, it felt wrong. He couldn’t do it.

He slowly lowered the rifle, and sucked it back up into his arm.

Then a voice, from behind… his own. “Do you need me to do it?” He pinched his eyes shut… Chamber.

Vincent let out a ragged breath as he listened to the devil on his shoulder. “She doesn’t love me. I have no skin in this game. I can do it,” Vincent’s breath deepened… and his skin started to crawl with anxiety, and a desperate need. He needed Austin Rancor dead. “Don’t say yes…” Chamber said, and he tilted his own rifle in Austin’s direction. It glittered, gleamed, and shone. “Just don’t stop me,” the weapon seemed to sing a siren’s song as Chamber looked down the sights. “Then you can tell her that you didn’t ask me to do it.”

Oh, God… oh, God… He wanted this so badly, he’d killed hundreds of people, he’d stood by and watched others. This is no different. This was no different. He put his face into his hands.

“Just one bullet… that’s all it will take, Vincent. He won’t even feel it.” Chamber assured gently as he took aim. He had Austin in his crosshairs. “I swear it will be quick.” Chamber’s finger rested on the trigger.

Vincent winced, biting back tears as the weight of what he was about to do sunk in. “But she’ll feel all of it.”

As Chamber went to pull back the trigger, Vincent shoved his hand up, directing the bullet away and up as Chamber fired.

It missed Austin by several meters, striking the top of the building. No one even knew it’d happened.

Austin glanced up at the falling debris, and disregarded it. 

Chamber nodded, and looked to Vincent. “You’re a better man than I am, I think. I would have done it a long time ago for her.”

Vincent was squeezing his hand over his mouth, shaking. He hadn’t always been a better man.

A second ago, all of this could have been over in some way. All of it. She could have been his fully and completely, and he wouldn’t have done it; no fault, hands clean.

Why, oh why hadn’t he just let Chamber kill the bastard?

He knew the answers; he loved Marielle. He couldn’t see her in pain like that. He couldn’t keep that lie from her- that Chamber had pulled the trigger and he willingly let it happen. He couldn’t watch her pine after Austin in death… secretly celebrating his birthday every year, secretly going to his grave and laying bunches of red roses over his name. Crying when she thought he wasn’t looking… and perhaps the worst realization… Vincent loved him. He loved Austin Rancor… Why? Because she did, because he was “worthy.” Because he was “brother.” Because he’d protect Marielle until he died. Why did he love him? Because he did and there was no other reason. It hit him in the stomach like a wave after you eat bad fish.

It was perhaps the worst possible realization that he’d ever had in his life except the one before it… Marielle was in love with him, and he’d never have her again. Not fully, anyways. She’d crawl into his bed at night and let him make love to her. She’d cook for them, and be genuinely happy, but her heart would always ache for Austin. She’d always sneak away in the night to go think about him in the living room. She’d always whisper his name when he couldn’t hear. She’d always wish that she were in his bed. It didn’t matter how good he was, or what he did… he was a failure at getting her back. He was a failure each…time.

The world in which he and Marielle were together and happy had passed away, and this was his only chance and his eternal punishment.

His own personal hell was opening space and time to find her again, only to be told each time that she was either dead… or bore the last name Rancor. Two names… two names that never made any sense together. Marielle Rancor.

It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. And what was truly not fair was the fact that he could look down the barrel and kill anyone on the planet… anyone! Except this jackass… Not him. He was protected by Marielle’s love… and his own.

He stood on wobbling legs, and sighing, he turned to Chamber.

Chamber met eyes with him, and threw his arms around him, understanding and feeling everything that his twin felt. Vincent cried softly into his shoulder for a moment before Chamber squeezed him, and pulled back, rubbing his shoulder with his right hand.

Vincent had lost everything. His home. His family. His friends. Now what? All that he could do was pray that some other external force killed Austin, and that Marielle would get over it in time. None of that seemed right. For now, anyways, she was with him. She hadn’t said she was leaving. He tried to cling to that bit of hope.

Vincent was about to go back down the stairs as the fight was dying out when he heard sniffling from under the flight just above him.

He snaked his way around them, pistol in hand and was startled to see her… Tala. Her blue hair pouring out from between her fingers like a fistful of yarn.

She was crying, a pistol on the steps next to her. Her body gave off that familiar yellow glow. This was the Tala from Vincent’s dimension.

He bent down to her. “Tala,” he whispered, gently putting a hand to her back, between her shoulders.

She looked up at him, face soaked, and running with makeup. She shook her head, and put her face to her drawn up knees. Chamber stood behind, waiting patiently. “Tala,” he repeated, gently. “You don’t want to be on this side, do you?” She shook her head, no. He stretched his hand out to her, “Then come with me. You’re home.” He pulled her into his arms, and she sobbed for a moment. 

 

***

 

A woman in all black with long orange hair and dazzling green eyes stepped out of the shadows, and walked slowly toward the back of a nearby building where she bent to the broken, sizzling Tundra.

Taking her hand, she placed it against his chest where bare, raw, acid eaten skin lay. Then she moved her fingers slowly upward, drawing a line over his heart and then to his face where she cupped his cheek for a moment.

He slowly sat up and looked at her as the flesh on his cheek- burned, falling off, and raw- knitted itself back together with a gentle green glow until it was perfection again. The skin on his arms, chest and back repeated the miracle. His right eye, cast white from burning away, also mended itself and the brilliant blue returned.

The stab wound in his shoulder disappeared as well. Skye smiled at him, pleased.

He grabbed her collar, jerked her to him and thrust his tongue into her mouth. He only pulled back long enough to say one word through clenched teeth, “Suck…” Then he put his knife to her throat, and pushed the tip of his tongue in again.

She obeyed him.